Growing up in today’s modern society, like most people I just accepted the big bang theory as fact, without really looking into it closely.

But when I did look into the facts of this theory, I was shocked to find it was held together by a number of invented elements that scientists have never seen or measured. For example, for the big bang theory to work there has to be things such as dark matter, dark energy, and population III stars (just to name a few examples), but these things have never been found.

Perhaps that’s why in 2004 an open letter to the scientific community was published in the New Scientist and signed by 33 scientists (now signed by over 200 scientists), saying that the big bang theory was no longer defensible and had serious problems. In part the letter said:

The big bang today relies on a growing number of hypothetical entities, things that we have never observed—inflation, dark matter and dark energy are the most prominent examples. Without them, there would be a fatal contradiction between the observations made by astronomers and the predictions of the big bang theory…

and

In no other field of physics would this continual recourse to new hypothetical objects be accepted as a way of bridging the gap between theory and observation. It would, at the least, raise serious questions about the validity of the underlying theory…

For me this is another reminder that although man sometimes confidently struts around like he knows it all, in fact we know very little. We’re taking guesses at what has happened in the past, using flawed methods, and there are in fact many things the world tells us are true which just aren’t.

“But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being…”
The Apostle Paul, ~57AD

Years ago in one of my previous jobs I used to work with people in the legal system, giving advice and assistance in the areas of crime and family law. It was a yucky business, dealing with a contstant stream of people and families in strife.

Along with my work colleagues we often used a term called “full moon fever”, which referred to the noticeable increase in cases whenever there was a full moon. People in other industries and occupations such as nurses, doctors, police, fireman, etc all said the same thing. All of us knew that the ancient myths about “lunacy” were true, even though there was no scientific evidence for it.

No evidence that was, until now. The Australian Medical Assocation recently published a report on a study in Newcastle that showed that “violent and acute behavioural disturbances are more common during the full moon…”.

Basically the report showed that during a full moon phase, there were double the amount of people presenting to the emergency department who needed sedation and/or physical restraint.

One of the clinical nurses at the hospital where the study was conducted said “Our findings support the premise that individuals with violent and acute behavioural disturbance are more likely to present to the emergency department during the phases of the full moon”.

So there you have it. All those people who work in the human services industry and have aways known that this is true – finally a study that shows the difference.

But what still isn’t really known is, why? Is it behavioural? Biological? After all, our brain is 75% water, and if the full moon can affect tides on earth, why not our brains? Or is there a spiritual cause? I know there’s some disturbing secret groups out there that practice their stuff around every full moon.

Whatever the answer, it’s another interesting variable in this journey of life.

Have you ever noticed a change around the full moon? Let me know your experience.

In 2005,  a team of scientists led by paleontologist Mary Schweitzer discovered a femur bone from a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Nothing particularly special about that, until they also discovered that the bone contained intact blood vessels, red blood cells, and other proteins. An amazing find: Tyrannosaurus Rex soft tissue!

But this posed a big problem and challenge to the conventional theories about dinosaurs. Why? Because we know that proteins like the type found in this dinosaur bone degrade quite quickly, and would not be expected to last longer than a few thousands years, even under ideal conditions. Just exactly what had we stumbled upon here?

Then again in 2009, the same team discovered the fossil of a duck-billed dinosaur that also included soft tissue structures such as collagen, elastin, and hemoglobin. Again, no evidence suggests that these kind of tissues can last more than a few thousand years, let alone the 60 million years that have supposed to have lapsed since dinosaurs died out.

The truth is that in fact there is a growing number of scientists that subscribe to “young earth” theory, challenging the long held beliefs that the earth is millions of years old. These scientists claim to have plenty of proof that the earth is in fact only a few thousand years old, and that men and dinosaurs did actually co-exist together at one point in time. It’s fascinating.

Christmas means different things to everyone. For some it’s about spending time with family, for others it’s about a holiday, for others it’s about presents, for other’s it’s about celebrating the original story of Christmas. And for some, it may even be a time that reminds them of their loneliness.

When I was a kid, Christmas was 100% about the presents. As far as I was concerned, some dude in a red suit would travel the world and deliver presents to everyone. Cool. I didn’t really think too much about why he would do that, but thinking back on my childhood I can still clearly recall the butterflies of excitement in my stomach as I went to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Then as I grew older I started to feel more and more unformfortable with the commercial side of Christmas. I saw us as a nation spending billions of dollars on ourselves, in many cases buying trinkets for each other that we don’t really need. And I started to appreciate just spending time with my family, rather than appreciating the photo frame or car washing kit or whatever else they gave me that I didn’t really need.

Don’t get me wrong, presents are a great part of Christmas, and are a way of showing we love each other. But if I went down the shops now (5 days before Christmas), I know I’ll see a bunch of people in a grump, yelling at their kids and filling their trolleys with trinkets for people because that’s what you do. They’re sometimes buying a novelty beer glass or a joke book for uncle Bob not because they really want to, but because that’s what’s expected.

For me, Christmas is now all about celebrating with people. And what am I celebrating? Being alive, knowing each other, sharing life with one another, and remembering one of the most amazing events in the history of our planet, when it was spoken:

“Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy, that will be for all the people! Today, a saviour has been born to you”

Like I said at the start, Christmas means different things to everyone. But whatever it means to you, make sure you take the time to sit beside someone and be real. When you’re about to die, you won’t wish that you bought uncle Bob a better novelty beer glass or joke book, you’ll wish you’d made the most of that opportunity to sit beside him with a drink and experience life together.

Have a great one.

My wife tells me that I’m patient with people, but impatient with things.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that I get annoyed at mediocre, low quality products.

Case in point. Yesterday the tap on our water filter broke AGAIN. We’ve had this water filter for around 7 years and in that time I’ve bought more than 7 taps for it. They seem to last anywhere between 6-12 months (or in some cases only weeks), and then they start to drip or break.

The problem is, I can’t seem to find anyone who will sell me a higher quality tap. All the shops seem to stock is cheap, nasty, low quality, plastic crap. I’d gladly pay for a higher quality tap (I’ve spent more money on taps than on the water filter itself), but our society and market often seems to be geared towards quick profit rather than value for money, hence cheap and nasty products.

It’s the reason why I have to buy a new kettle every 2 years, or a new set of headphones every 12 months, or another DVD player to replace the most recent broken one.

Needless to say, I try avoid $2 shops and warehouse clearances whenever possible!

But of course the other way to look at it is that I should just take a chill pill. People are starving for goodness sake, should I really get so uptight about needing a new watch strap again already?

Well, sometimes I think if I didn’t pour so much money down the drain on rubbish, I’d have a bit more to help them with.

Rant over.

Always remember, you’re unique. Just like everybody else.

Isn’t life an amazing thing? There’s almost 7 billion of us, a number too big to really comprehend, plus all the billions who have lived before us, and yet there still isn’t another person who is quite like you. We’re all unique people with unique personalities and characteristics. The variety and spectrum of life just seems to be endless, and it amazes me.

And yet while we’re all unique, we also have so much in common. We’re all on this crazy ride together, trying to negotiate life. And death. There’s so much we don’t know about. Some of us make out like we know all the answers, that we’re in control, but at the end of the day we’re not actually in control of a whole lot. At funerals, we often get a sense that all the things we built up to gain some kind of control over our life have been leveled, as we stand together trying to make sense of things. We all want to be loved, and be happy. No matter what our differences are, we all share a bond, like one big family.

But enough about the hard times. Life also has soaring highs. Amazing highs. Make sure you treasure them, preferably with other “special” people around you.